LEGISLATORS BRACE FOR SHOWDOWN OVER DISTRICTS

Black legislators said on Friday they are preparing for a legal fight to shoot down a proposed lawsuit settlement that calls for the redrawing of political boundaries in South Florida, a move that would affect largely minority and Democratic districts.

A federal judge in Key West is scheduled to hear arguments on the proposed settlement on Oct. 12.

"This new attempt by the Republican Party is just another siege on minority voting districts," said U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami.

On Friday, Meek along with Hastings and several black state legislators, held a news conference at the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators in Miami.

Their anger is aimed at the proposed settlement to a 1998 lawsuit charging that three congressional districts and two state districts discriminate against non-Hispanics.

The lawsuit, brought by Tom Fouts of Islamorada, and other plaintiffs, says the current district stretched over wide areas to scoop up minority populations.

The proposed settlement, mainly showing maps of how the districts would look for the 2000 elections, has to be approved by a panel of three judges.

Meek and Hastings said they had been largely left in the dark about the proposed settlement, which would avert a trial.

They were mailed maps showing the redrawing of their district, but not of the other districts, which failed to give them a proper perspective of what was in the works.

And no mention was made of a settlement issue, they both said.

When the proposed settlement was made public and black legislators balked, Gov. Jeb Bush asked that his name be removed from the deal as one of the state officials named as plaintiffs, saying he thought everyone had been in agreement.

"We didn't agree to a damn thing," said Hastings, whose district would be the most severely impacted.

Hastings' District 23 would see the percentage of registered black voters drop from 45 to 38.

Meek's District 17 in Miami, would see the percentage of registered black voters would drop from 65 to 56.

But David Paul Horan, attorney for Fouts, said the minority legislators whose districts may be reshaped couldn't legally stop it.

Gerrymandering has been ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court, he said, and the Florida Legislator has agreed that there is gerrymandering in those districts.

"This is not a question of whether we redo these districts; that has been settled. This is a question now of what those districts are going to look like now," Horan said on Friday.

This week, the minority legislators won the support of Fort Lauderdale state Rep. Peter Deutsch who has filed a motion with the Key West court to be allowed to "intervene" in hearings on the proposed settlement.

Deutsch is upset because the rejiggering will cut off Monroe County from Deutsch's district.

Under the proposed redrawing of the district, his district would only stretch between Broward and Miami-Dade.

"He supports the black legislators in this matter," Deutsch spokesman Ray Krauze said on Friday.

Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or at 305-810-5007.